Baltic Capitals or Bust! |
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Reviewed By: McGoran, MOFFAT on 2nd Mar 2010
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| Cruise Line: Fred. Olsen Cruises |
Times cruised before: 1-2 |
| Cruise Ship: Braemar |
Sailed:
September,
2009 |
| Destination:
Baltic
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Age: 56-65 |
| Cabin: Outside |
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Once upon a time, a very long time ago, when our two children were quite young we were on a family holiday to Florida. We did all the usual things and visited all the usual places under our own steam; ah steam...that reminds me. We decided to be really adventurous and take a 'mini-cruise' to the Bahamas (3 nights/4 days) in an inside cabin with 4 bunk beds but it was wonderful! All the standard cruise benefits and dressing up to meet the Captain etc, plus the time spent snorkelling and wandering around ashore.
This 'taster' remained with us as a very pleasant memory until one day a kind person from my retirement pension provider came and said I could go home and live on my pension, spend my 'lump sum' and really enjoy life to the full! This was the moment we'd been waiting for! The children were up and away and we could please ourselves. With the help of our 'friends' at ROL we decided to book a 14 night cruise to Scandinavia and the Eastern Baltic republics. What a good decision it turned out to be.
We left Scotland for Dover by train and picked up the dedicated coach at Victoria which delivered us straight on to the ship. We didn't see our luggage from the moment it was put in the bus boot until it appeared in our stateroom a few hours later. Because we had been held up a bit getting clear of London, even though it was a Sunday lunchtime we were a little rushed getting aboard Braemar, no boarding photograph but no check-in queues either! We had asked ROL about a cabin upgrade and they instructed us to report to the purser as soon as we got settled on board. I asked as we actually checked in and was told to go see the Guest Manager in her office. After dumping hand luggage and coats etc we did exactly that and after a bit of persuading and negotiating; I was celebrating my recent retirement, my wife was about to turn 60, the usual things, we were asked to wait until the next day when we viewed another cabin to see if it was to our liking. The outside cabin we had was on deck 3 with two portholes on the starboard side near the bow so not bad but we were offered an "oceanview" cabin on deck 6 the next day at no extra cost. It was great! The Braemar is a lovely vessel and the crew were great.
We sailed from Dover to the Kiel Canal and thence to Warnemunde in Germany. Going through the canal was a great experience. We enjoyed standing in the "Titanic" position right in the prow and taking in everything around us on a lovely Autumn afternoon. We had enough time to visit Rostock on the local train (very cheap) AND see around Warnemunde when we returned before getting back on board. Our cameras were now red hot and this was only our first stop!
We were supposed to stop at one of the Danish islands but the seas were a little too high so we went straight on to Lithuania and enjoyed a day ashore there which opened our eyes (and our hearts) to the progress and the people of the ex-Soviet Baltic republics.
From there we travelled on to Tallinn and then to St Petersburg where we stopped for two nights, then to Helsinki which we really enjoyed. Tallinn had been very 'touristy' but Helsinki was a working city and we enjoyed our explore there. From Finland we went on to Sweden and visited Stockholm. We didn't choose to go into the city but rather we took a boat tour of the city's waterways at a very reasonable cost and with a very good, funny and informative guide. Without gaining any real idea of the geography or ground plan of the city we nevertheless enjoyed the stunning views and excitement of our boat trip and it made us think of all those Vikings who would have lived here in these islands and who left to conquer so many new worlds.
From Stockholm it was off to Copenhagen in Denmark and we 'parked' the Braemar about one hundred metres from Hans Christian Anderson's "Little Mermaid" (Those cameras were approaching melt down!). We loved Copenhagen too. It was a lot of walking and we thought very expensive. Lunch and a beer was costly enough but they added insult to injury by charging us two pounds each for glasses of tap water! Just as we were walking back along the waterside to the ship Mrs Obama and the Danish Royal Family disembarked from their official yacht to go into the royal palace which overlooks the water; another experience to be treasured and remembered.
From Copenhagen we were to sail north around Denmark and through the Skagerrak whirlpool but the storms in the North Sea were at force 9 and 10. So down under the Copenhagen to Malmo bridge and once more through the Kiel Canal but in the opposite direction and at night. This part of the voyage was in many ways just as exciting as all the rest. From Germany back 'home' to Dover and from there a long journey by coach and train back to Scotland. A departure from Rosyth or even Newcastle might have been better but going via London suited us better for family reasons at the time.
ROL were brilliant. Fred Olsen receive top marks for hospitality and organisation. The entertainment on board Braemar was excellent and the ship was both cosy, familiar and spacious all at the same time.
We would highly recommend this cruise to anyone who asked.
Would we cruise again? This April and May we're off with Princess Cruises to China, Korea, Russia, Japan, Alaska and Vancouver, can't wait!! Good sailing everyone!
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| Quality of Food |  |
| In the 'set' main dining room for dinner but anywhere we wished for breakfast and lunch. | | Entertainment | |
| The comedian was a little dated and 'near the bone' some times but people seemed to enjoy it so.... | | Shore Excursions |  |
| Not an excursion per se but the kefuffle to get into St Petersburg through Russian customs, especially as the 'tour' took us to the city centre and dropped us off on our own for two hours. What was all the fuss about? | | Staff |  |
| The Captain. Everyone loved his 'news' broadcasts. | | Children's Facilities | n/a |
| | Onboard Activities | |
| Yes, and no pressure to join in or buy anything if you didn't want to. | | Cabins | |
| Yes and we were upgraded too. | | Overall Rating | |
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